REGEN AUSTRALIS

 

ECOLOGY IS THE FOUNDATION OF AGRICULTURE.

AGRICULTURE IS THE FOUNDATION OF CULTURE.

 

Contemporary Australian cultures are acutely maladjusted to the ecological realities of the continent and so, despite their currently high living standards are grossly underprepared for withstanding crisis.

Furthermore, this maladjustment creates a damaging lack of meaningful connection between the Australian people and the land; resulting in degenerative effects upon both.

And so, more than most places on Earth, Australia is in need of a deep eco/agri/cultural review. A process to augment understanding of the relevant history, current dynamic and identifying appropriate actions toward fostering meaningful connection between people and country. Regenerative cultures stewarding a regenerative ecology.

So how do we best develop Regenerative Cultures in Australia?

The Regen Australis project explores and formulates the ways in which human populations may develop regenerative cultures at bio-regional levels, anywhere in the world and uses Fremantle and the greater region of south Western Australia as a working example.

 

Principle Premise

Contemporary Australian cultures are acutely maladjusted to the ecological realities of the continent.

Primary Effects

This expresses itself in many forms, however there are two main categories…

  • Human well-being
    • Deep psycho-cultural malaise
    • A lack of “folk” cultures
    • Disconnection to ‘country’
    • High rates of depression/anxiety, substance abuse and suicide.
    • Lack of responsibility as stewards of the land
    • Land only valued as commodity

all of which in turn lead too..

  • Degradation of Ecological Function(Environmental well-being)
    • Rapid and acute degeneration of the environment over mere generations

Principle Question: In response to our Principal Premise we ask the Principal Question…

“How do we best develop regenerative cultures in Australia within the context of crisis?”

Solutions

Once we have a thorough understanding of the situation we can look for guiding principles and appropriate models that we might use to inform our process of developing regenerative culture in Australia.

  1. General Sustainability/Regen studies
  2. Traditional Aboriginal knowledge and practices
  3. Climatic analogues
  4. Bioregional administration
  5. Incentivised education and application of regenerative eco-agriculture

 

PALEO-AUS QUESTIONS:

Second only to Antarctica, Australia is the most anomalous and extreme continental ecology on the planet and in many ways seems to bend the rules of ecology, but how far? The Australian ecology appears to be currently functioning with a uniquely compromised trophic array. Minimal herbivorous, native mega-fauna. No native, predatory mega-fauna(and a lack of terrestrial, mammalian predators in general). Further desertifying rangelands on atrophied soils… etc.

The over riding question as I see it is:

Do these unusual and extreme ecological dynamics, as sparse and incomplete as they may appear, represent the expression of a set of unique and challenging environmental conditions, which despite there severe nature are in fact balanced and whole unto themselves?… and/OR… are we in fact observing a landscape, so old, so unique, so extreme with such a strange natural and human history that there is currently in fact a run-away ecological crisis that requires swift and active Human stewardship in order to rehabilitate the necessary stabilising ecological functions?

Or both? Or neither?…

KEY QUESTIONS

*Needs a preface explaining the HM key insights of Brittle/non-brittle and Predator/Prey relationship. I.E Are perennial grasslands dependent upon an obligate relationship with large herds of grazing herbivores and the predators that prey upon them?

  • How brittle was Pleistocene Australia?(acknowledging that there is a lot of Australia in flux over the Pleistocene/Holocene)
  • Did the Australian continent have significant perennial grasslands prior to the arrival of pack-hunting Homo sapiens and their Canis dingo allies?
    • Pollen records etc
  • If so, what was doing the pack-hunting?
    • Thylacine?
    • Thylacoleo?
    • Sarcophilus laniarus?
    • As yet un-described species?
  • Did paleo-Australian ecology also have medi-predators who filled niches similar to the modern feral cat and fox?
    • If so, how long have Australia’s populations of small marsupials, reptiles and birds been adjusted to a relatively terrestrial predator free environment?
  • Did the paleo-Australian herbivores including the now extinct Diprotodontia species graze in large herds?
    • What was the quality and quantity of their impact on the soil/vegetation?
  • Are Australia’s poor soils(low carbon & nutrient) due solely to their geriatric nature(lack of glacial/volcanic renewal) or could, at least the low carbon levels be a result of the atrophied predator/prey relationship in brittle environs coupled with 50K years + of fire stick agriculture?
  • How did the rangeland biomes behave within the context of Australia’s ‘floodplain/chain-of-ponds’ hydrology?
  • How much were the extinct Australian megafauna directly dependant on the pre-Eucalyptus dominant woody vegetation?

The above exploration sets the stage as we lead toward the discussion of Australia’s current ecological dynamic and beyond, into a regenerative future.

  • Australia is approximately 2/3s brittle.
  • There are no extant, native mega-fauna predators.
  • The only extant native, herbivorous megafauna are the red and grey kangaroo species.
    • What is the difference in the impact of Kangaroo herds on the land both with and without significant predator pressure?
  • There are millions of feral grazing/browzing, herding herbivores of various species, many already superbly naturalised, that are having further deleterious effect on the landscape. But the issue is not the herbivores(not even the hard-hooved ferals) but the lack of predators. This is an issue not of population control but of behavioural change as described by the 2nd and 3rd Key Insights of HM.
  • Much of the Australian landscape is acutely brittle and currently desertifying.
    • The shear size of these lands renders a solely Human managed solution virtually unviable.
  • The only animals that currently exist in Australia that could provide the obligatory role of pack hunting predator are the wild dog, the Dingo and their hybrids.
    • This is also the only politically viable option as the introduction of another, non-native, pack hunting mega-predator would never be considered.
  • How much of brittle Australia could viably be managed holistically(HRG etc) by Humans and how much would be beyond that scope and require the beneficial impact of a complete predator/prey/rangeland dynamic?

*NB: Regen Australis is a not-for-profit organisation separate from Oak Tree Designs.